


immortal, such as mine

by syssphinx



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Some blood/violence, The Gumiho Vivi Fic, also hyerim if u squint, chuusoul idiots to idiots, more characters + ships will probably be added later, supernatural/fantasy elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24276619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syssphinx/pseuds/syssphinx
Summary: Haseul is good at her job. She’s observant, experienced, and doesn’t meddle in her clients’ personal lives. That is, unless your client has nine tails and a penchant for eating human flesh.In which Kahei is a gumiho and Haseul has been tasked with helping her become human.
Relationships: Jo Haseul/Viian Wong | ViVi, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jiwoo | Chuu
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	immortal, such as mine

Haseul groaned awake to the sound of her phone ringing, a trilling, operatic tone that never failed to catch her attention. Unfortunately it did its job a little too well, especially at 3 in the morning. She blinked away the sleepy haze just enough to read Jungeun’s name on the screen, frowning to herself before hesitantly accepted the call.

“Haseul? I hope I’m not waking you up, I don’t know what time it is over there.”

“It’s 3 A.M., Jungeun. On the first night in weeks that I’ve actually been able to sleep.” Her weary tone must have gotten through to Jungeun, as she picked up a guilt-ridden whistle on the other end.

“Sorry… sorry. I’m calling because we need you back at the bureau as soon as possible. I got a call and it’s… it’s urgent.”

Haseul sat up a bit straighter in her bed. _Urgent enough to call at this hour?_ She thought, momentarily forgetting that she was on the other side of the globe from her boss.

“Urgent? Like… dangerous?”

“Mm. Deadly, even. I don’t want any of the others working on this one. That’s why I’m calling on you, Haseul. You’re our most experienced investigator.”

 _That’s true_ , Haseul thought, recalling the ordeal that had landed her in the cheap European hotel room in the first place. She had been called out to assist one of the younger investigators, Son Hyejoo, in the capture of a peculiarly flamboyant vampire (who, for a creature so afraid of the sun, preferred to don herself in bright colors right up to her shockingly purple hair). But Hyejoo had been falling under her spell, so to speak, and the last thing the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation needed was an investigator developing Stockholm syndrome for a vampire.

Those kinds of things had happened embarrassingly often, and too often for Jungeun’s liking. After all, she was the one who submitted the monthly report to the higher-ups, and a simple unfavorable remark meant the end of the world in Jungeun’s perfectionist eyes. Luckily Haseul was able to mitigate the situation while adhering to the bureau's strict no-killing policy, but the countless all-nighters she pulled while dealing with the nocturnal vampiress left her physically and mentally exhausted and longing for the simple comfort of her Seoul apartment.

She muttered a quick “be there tomorrow,” and hung up the phone, groaning into her pillow.

\---

“On the bright side, this one isn’t too far from home,” Jungeun said, sipping her coffee as Haseul sat slumped with jetlag in the chair across from her. “The fox has been visiting the village and substantially depleting the farmers’ chickens, and has lately moved on to cats and dogs as well. As you can imagine, the villagers have been trying to end its little reign of terror for a while, but to no avail.”

“And how do we know that this isn’t just a particularly troublesome fox?” Haseul asked, an edge to her voice at being called back for something so trivial.

“Foxes, no matter how troublesome, aren’t known to cause the disappearance of three men,” Jungeun turned the page of the file in front of her, “all of which were found days or weeks later with their hearts missing from their corpses.”

_A gumiho._

“No, I… I guess foxes don’t do that,” Haseul replied, feeling the uneasiness rise in her throat. She absentmindedly scratched at the chair, thinking about the task ahead of her.

"You've dealt with dangerous creatures before, Haseul. You're the only one I trust to handle this. And remember- no killing, and absolutely NO falling in love. We don't want another Hyejoo situation. I… I have no one else to come save you if that happens," Jungeun said firmly, and Haseul lifted her head to meet her boss’s eyes. Her gaze was steely, but betrayed a hint of softness.

She nodded, not entirely sure what she was getting herself into.

As she walked back to her apartment that evening, Haseul let her mind wander. Jungeun had explained that she was to travel alone to a small village, where the three men had recently gone missing. She would talk to the locals and gather as much information as possible before confronting the fox herself. Mitigation strategies varied depending on the severity of the situation and the creature being confronted, and if the fox really was as dangerous as Jungeun described, it was an even bigger commitment than Haseul had expected. Most of the creatures that the bureau dealt with were relatively harmless, simply scaring civilians or stealing livestock. Some, like the vampire, would occasionally injure humans, but Haseul had dealt with those situations before.

Never a creature that already had a body count, though.

Those cases had been left to higher management ever since an incident in the 90s when a trainee investigator was killed on the job by a kappa. _What makes this fox so different?_ she asked herself as the familiar beige rise of the apartment complex came into view, hazy against the setting sun.

Haseul flopped down on the bed as soon as she got inside, seeing as her belongings were still packed from the trip to Europe. She smothered herself in the fresh scent of the duvet, already regretting the fact that she had to leave again so soon.

After cooking herself some instant ramen and scrolling Twitter for a few hours, Haseul checked into bed early, relishing in the fact that she could finally sleep for at least one night without being disturbed.

Deep in the forest somewhere not too far away, a man's life seeps out of his throat through gashes that could only be left by claws.

\---

The bus to the village was nearly empty on the crisp Saturday morning, and Haseul decided to look through the file Jungeun gave her once more. The descriptions of the three male victims were sparse, simply listing names and faces. They varied in age and there didn't seem to be any connection between them other than living in the village.

She turned the page and nearly skimmed past a piece of yellow paper, neatly nestled in between the pages. Handwritten on it was the address of the guest house Jungeun had arranged for her to stay in, which was actually an apartment above a bar. Jungeun had said she knew the owner personally, and that Haseul should have no trouble finding the place, as it was right in the middle of the village. She sat slightly back in the bus seat, thinking about the prospect of at least being able to clear her mind with some alcohol after the inevitable days she would spend dealing with this strange fox. That is, until she read the scrawled note underneath the address.

_Enjoy yourself, but not too much. Remember, you're there with an objective._   
_-J_

Of course, Jungeun wouldn't let her have any fun, or at least not as much as Haseul would’ve liked. She closed the file promptly and instead looked out the window, noticing the scenery begin to change. The city skylines and telephone poles had long since been replaced by tall trees and silhouettes of distant mountains. Although only a couple hours away from where Haseul lived and worked, this village was definitely _secluded_. As her eyes wandered across the treetops, she imagined someone could go missing for days or weeks in these woods without anyone suspecting a thing. She shuddered a bit at the thought.

After almost nodding off to the steady roll of the mountains outside the window, Haseul’s ears picked up the elderly couple a few rows behind her, breaking the silence. They spoke in hushed voices, but the bus was empty enough to hear them clearly from where Haseul was sitting.

_“I heard they found another one this morning.”_

_“Like the others?”_

_“Mm. They’re saying it was the nice young bartender. I wonder how his sister is taking it, that sweet girl.”_

Haseul stiffened at the last part.

_Bartender?_

She itched to hear more, but the couple instead settled into a conversation about the drama between their in-laws, something Haseul wasn’t the least bit interested in. She assumed she would find out about the latest victim soon enough, though, as the bus rolled to a halt at the outskirts of the village.

Since it was the last stop on the route, the rest of the passengers exited the bus along with Haseul. The elderly couple began making their way towards the few houses near the woods, away from the village center where she was headed. The last passenger to get off, however, was a girl who hadn’t made a single sound the entire ride, and Haseul had barely noticed her. The girl had a good few inches on Haseul, with a head of jet black hair and an equally black leather jacket. She looked intimidating to say the least, and started off in the same direction as Haseul.

She thought it best to gather as much information from the locals as possible, and seeing as this girl seemed to have an air of familiarity with the village around her, Haseul assumed her to be one. She prepared to break the silence, but the other girl did so first.

“D’you live here?” she asked, peering at Haseul out of the corner of her eye. The girl’s voice betrayed her appearance, slow and lilting; cute, even.

“No, I don’t. Here on a case, actually,” Haseul replied, “what about you?”

“A detective?” The girl barely concealed her curiosity before registering the other half of the question. “Oh, I live in the city, actually, but I come here every now and then to visit my girl- um. Friend.”

Haseul quirked her eyebrow up.

“Girl- um- friend?” she asked, an amused smile in her voice. She watched as a light blush crept onto the other girl’s face.

“Friend. I meant friend. It’s complicated, okay?” she said, chuckling awkwardly. “Anyway, she called me to help out with her family’s bar and inn. I heard they… laid some employees off.”

 _This girl is really bad at lying,_ Haseul thought, smiling to herself. She pulled out the yellow paper that she had stowed away in her pocket.

“It wouldn’t be this bar, by any chance?” she asked, pointing to the address that Jungeun gave her.

“Yeah, that’s the one. The only bar in town,” the girl said, evidently surprised. “Are you a friend of Jiwoo?”

Haseul shook her head, but made a mental note to remember that name. _Jiwoo._

“Like I said, I’m just here on a case. But if we’re going to see each other around, you might be able to help me. So, might as well do a proper introduction, right?” She stopped, turning to the taller girl and extending her hand. “I’m Haseul. I work with the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation.”

The girl smirked slightly before answering.

“I’m Jinsol,” she said, taking Haseul’s hand in her own. “A vampire.”

Haseul froze, hand going limp in Jinsol’s grasp. _Seriously?_ Another _one? Jesus, I didn’t sign up for-_

Jinsol suddenly burst into laughter, nearly doubling over in front of the dumbfounded shorter girl. After catching her breath, she looked back up with widened eyes.

“You really believed me, huh?” she lowered her voice a bit, “Wait, but vampires aren’t… y’know… _real_ , right?”

“Let’s just say… you don’t know what I’ve seen,” Haseul said, not wanting to say too much.

It was best to keep a supernatural investigation as undercover as possible, as the risk of getting others involved was way too high. Best case scenario, ragtag kids and teens would tag along looking for a scare; at worst, mass hysteria or even... collateral damage. Haseul usually didn’t expose her job so frankly to just anyone, but something about Jinsol seemed trustworthy enough to let her guard down. She assumed Jiwoo already knew the situation anyway, so the circumstances of Haseul’s being in the village would have likely slipped out one way or another.

“Well, I’ll be in town for a week. Maybe I can get you to spill some of those ghost stories after a drink or two. The bar’s just up ahead.” Jinsol said, gesturing to a two-story building that sat on a small hill a short walk up the street.

The Kim family's bar was cozy enough on the inside, a bit dim but lit with soft orange lighting. A girl who looked to be around twenty was washing dishes behind the counter, evidently getting the place ready for the five o'clock crowd. Her dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and thin bangs framed her cute, round face. She lifted her head and her face lit up upon noticing Jinsol, and Haseul could sense the other girl smiling back beside her. Running towards Jinsol she enveloped the taller girl in a hug that lingered slightly longer than it should have.

“And you’re Haseul, right?,” she asked after pulling away from the hug. “Here, I’ll show you to your room! Jinsol, could you get a couple of drinks ready? We’ll be down in a minute.” Jinsol nodded briefly, her face dusted a light pink from the interaction with the other girl.

Haseul had already suspected that this girl was Jiwoo, and her suspicions were confirmed by her nametag, which was adorned with hand-drawn hearts. She grabbed Haseul’s hand and led her up a steep staircase that was concealed behind the bar by a curtain.

Jiwoo animatedly presented Haseul with her room. It was neat and simple, with a bed in one corner and a floor desk in the other, and a window overlooking the street below them.

“I hope it’s enough, I know it’s not much but I kind of had to get it ready last-minute.”

She turned back towards Jiwoo, and was finally able to get a good look at the girl’s face. Her features were soft, and she wore a smile like it was what she was born to do. The smile, however, didn’t fully reach her eyes, which were glazed with a hint of something that Haseul didn’t have the words to describe. From the moment she saw her, she could tell Jiwoo knew much more than she let on. And Haseul was determined to uncover as much of it as she could.

“You know why I’m here then, I assume?” she asked, and Jiwoo nodded, the look not leaving her eyes.

“My brother died last night,” she said flatly, no longer exuding the bright demeanor she had earlier. “They found his body this morning.”

“I heard. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t be,” Jiwoo scoffed, directing her gaze to the wall. “He was an asshole.”

Haseul’s eyebrows involuntarily shot up, and Jiwoo let out a deep sigh. _I wasn’t expecting that._

“He was still my brother, though. He pretty much ran this place all by himself… guess that’s left to me now. But that’s why Jinsol is here,” she said, face lighting up slightly at the mention of the other girl.

Haseul wondered what exactly had gone on between the two. If there’s anything she’s good at, it’s observation - something that Jungeun always praised her for, and what makes her such a good investigator - and from what Haseul had observed from their brief meeting, they definitely liked each other. But the more she talked to Jiwoo, the harder she was to read. Either way, Haseul felt as if she had entered into these girls’ lives on the precipice of something bound to happen, and she decided that meddling with their personal lives probably wasn’t the best idea.

“Before you ask, I wasn’t the one who called the bureau, by the way. I don’t even know who did,” Jiwoo changed the subject, which Haseul was meaning to do. “I wasn’t really involved with any of this until… you know.”

Haseul nodded in understanding. Again, though, she had an inkling that Jiwoo wasn’t telling her the whole story. She didn’t want this to become an interrogation, but she decided that a blunt question required a blunt answer.

“So, what can you tell me about this fox, then?” she asked. Jiwoo paused for a moment.

“Well, I know that she slit my brother’s throat with razor sharp claws and then ate his still-beating heart while he bled out. Or at least… that’s what the stories say. But it all seems to add up,” Jiwoo said, and Haseul was thrown off a bit by her ability to talk about her own brother’s death in such gruesome detail. “But otherwise, I guess she’s just a normal fox. I’ve seen glimpses of her every now and then on the trail leading to the outskirts of the village. Just a bright flash of orange in the leaves, and then she’s gone. I’ve never seen her in her human form, though. Only a few people have, and they say that she’s- ”

The door burst open, kicked by Jinsol, whose hands were full as she awkwardly tried to carry three shot glasses.

“-the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen,” Jiwoo trailed off.

“Ooh, are we gossiping?” Jinsol said with a dorky smile. “Well, can we gossip downstairs? ‘Cause the bar’s filling up and I can’t handle it all by myself.”

\---

A couple hours and a few drinks later, the three girls sat at the counter exchanging their most outrageous stories as the sun began to set outside.

“...and then they told us, ‘the two of you are never welcome in this neighborhood again!’ All because Jiwoo joked about barging into a house!” Jinsol exclaimed, her drunken laugh echoing even in the crowded bar. “But you know how those rich white gated communities are. I wouldn’t be surprised if they told TSA or some shit and got us banned from America.”

Haseul laughed at the sheer absurdity of it all as Jiwoo sat giggling at the other end of the counter, face flushed from both the alcohol and embarrassment.

For such a small village the bar attracted a good-sized crowd, and it made Haseul the slightest bit anxious. Between conversations she scanned the room, looking for anything that might seem out of place - but to no avail. The place was filled with people who looked painfully normal: old geezers sipping their whiskey, young women out with their friends, college students home for the weekend. Of course, Haseul was keeping track of every face though; any of them could prove to be useful to her later on.

“So when are you gonna tell us about the vampires, huh?”

Haseul was jolted back into the conversation by Jinsol’s hand on her shoulder as well as Jiwoo’s expectant stare.

“Vampires? What vampires?” the latter asked, the topic obviously piquing her interest. Haseul in her slightly altered state was tempted to spill all of her secrets to the puppy-eyed girl, but Jungeun’s words echoed in the back of her head. She wouldn’t slip that easily, even to this charming albeit confusing duo.

“Sorry. Can’t tell you. The bureau enforces a strict non-disclosure agreement,” she confidently stated.

That was utter bullshit, of course, but Haseul knew her sober self would never forgive her for being too careless. But she knew the two wouldn’t give her a break, so before they could ask any more prying questions, she excused herself to the bathroom.

There was a short hallway behind the bar counter, on the opposite side from the staircase. In addition to the bathroom doors was a door at the end of the hallway which presumably led outside, and after washing up, Haseul opted for a quick break from the noisy bar.

It was late September and the night air was cool, with the sun long since set over the horizon and shrouding the village in a dusky blue. Haseul leaned her head back against the cold wood of the wall, trying to sober up a bit. Maybe it was just the alcohol in her system, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was… _off._

A loud _snap_ and a rustle of leaves later, Haseul was definitely sure something was off.

She was positive that she was not alone behind the bar, and panic was quickly catching up to her slowed mind. _Shit._ She fumbled around her jacket pockets for any sort of weapon, but she had left everything in the room. Even her glasses, which upon realizing they were nowhere to be found, elicited an audible “ _fuck!_ ” from the girl who quickly drew her hands to her mouth, hoping that whatever it was didn’t hear her. Haseul, the most experienced investigator in the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, was to her utter dismay, completely unprepared.

 _Jungeun is gonna kill me if I die_ , she thought, squinting at the treeline. Through her blurred vision she could make out a pair of sly yellow eyes staring straight back at her through the leaves. She froze as they contracted into crescent moons and a feminine giggle resounded around her, before the figure receded back into the treeline, leaving Haseul truly alone.

The rest of the night, she couldn’t get the sound of that laugh out of her head.

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! this is my first ever fanfic. it's based off of a random thought i had of gumiho vivi who i then started doodling and then i was like well shit i have to write this now.  
> which looking back on it she isn't even introduced in this chapter But! she will be here soon and im super excited to write her :@!#":#$
> 
> so ummyeah plz leave a comment tell me what u liked and what ur looking forward to :]


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